To lose in a fifth set tie-break at Wimbledon because you’ve been docked a point for whacking the ball out of the court is careless.

To lose in a fifth set tie-break at Wimbledon the following year after gifting your opponent a match-point opportunity by playing an underarm serve is even more so.

But that’s what the world No 34 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina did in his third-round clash with Holger Rune, the world No 6.

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With the score at 8-8 in the decisive tie-break, the Spaniard chose to play an underarm serve that Rune hammered past him with a forehand winner to give himself match point. Davidovich Fokina then netted a forehand to seal the 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory for Rune in three hours and 59 minutes.

8-8 in the tiebreaker.

Who expected Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to do an underarm serve? 😯#Wimbledon

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2023

Asked about his thought process at that moment, he said: “It’s just another serve. I don’t know why it’s over-(analysing) with the underarm serve — it’s just another shot, like (hitting the ball) through the legs. It’s just another shot.”

Would he do it again in that situation? “Why not?”

His opponent Rune described it as crazy and very unexpected, and said he would have trusted his serve in that situation.

“No. No, I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “But again, every player has a different style. You know, I mean, if he made it, it would have been the right shot. It’s tough to say.

“But yeah, I wouldn’t have done it. I thought that I would trust my serve and go big, also like I did in the match points, the match point I saved. I think it’s different from person to person.”

The Danish player reacted very quickly to the serve, almost like he knew what was coming. “I don’t think he even bounced the ball, so I was, like, I was aware that something was different,” Rune said. “Then when I saw it, I just ran for it and tried to hit it where he wasn’t there. I mean, I choose to go cross(court). That was the right way.”

Davidovich Fokina had been leading 8-5 in the tie-break before Rune won five points in a row to advance to the fourth round and admits that nerves may have got the better of him.

“You have to be there,” he said. “I cannot explain what is going through my mind in that moment (the whole tie-break). Everyone is shouting. You are nervous. I cannot explain what is happening in my head.”

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Despite the defeat, he is happy with how he performed on the grass this week, and does not regret the manner in which he lost to Rune, who had a spicy meeting with at the Madrid Masters only a couple of months ago.

“I don’t regret anything. I just keep going. I think he is a great player. He has a lot of tools to beat a lot of great players. I have a good relationship outside the court with him, so I do not care what he is doing (on the court).”

Last year, Davidovich Fokina lost to Jiri Vesely in the second round after being given a point penalty for hitting a ball out of the court when 9-7 down in the fifth-set tie-break. The umpire Carlos Ramos called game, set and match for Vesely as Davidovich Fokina had incurred a previous code violation earlier in the contest.

(Photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)